[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 83 (Wednesday, June 16, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6861-S6862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 NOMINATION OF PAUL S. DIAMOND TO BE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE FOR 
                  THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will 
report the next nomination.
  The legislative clerk read the nomination of Paul S. Diamond, of 
Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There will be 2 minutes equally divided on the 
nomination.
  The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, Paul Diamond is a distinguished 
Philadelphia attorney who holds a bachelor's degree from Columbia magna 
cum laude, demonstrating an excellent academic background, a law degree 
from the University of Pennsylvania, 2 years experience in the 
Philadelphia district attorney's office, a law clerk to a supreme court 
judge in Pennsylvania, a partner in a very distinguished law firm, 
Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel, for more than a decade, and is 
currently an adjunct professor at Temple University.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I was tied up in a meeting for the prior 
vote on Judge Stengel. I have the highest respect for the two gentlemen 
and urge the confirmation of Judge Diamond.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am pleased today to speak in support of 
Mr. Paul S. Diamond, who has been nominated to the United States 
District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is a fine 
choice for the Federal bench.
  Mr. Diamond received his bachelor of arts degree, magna cum laude, 
from Columbia University, and his juris doctor from the University of 
Pennsylvania School of Law. Following law school, he spent several 
years working in the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office as a 
Assistant District Attorney. He then served as a law clerk to the 
Honorable Justice Bruce W. Kauffman of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 
now a judge serving on the United States District Court for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. At the conclusion of his clerkship, he 
returned to the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.
  In 1983, Mr. Diamond joined Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish & Kauffman LLP., 
as an associate and in 1986, he was made a partner. Paul S. Diamond is 
currently a partner in the venerable Philadelphia law firm of 
Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell & Hippel LLP., where he practices in the 
area of complex criminal and commercial litigation. He is also 
administrative partner of the firm's litigation department.

[[Page S6862]]

  Since entering private practice, Mr. Diamond has specialized in the 
representation of clients in grand jury related litigation throughout 
the country. In fact, he authored a comprehensive text and several 
articles on the work of the grand jury. This area of expertise assisted 
him as he served on the American Bar Association's Grand Jury and 
Amicus Curiae Briefs Subcommittee where he drafted amicus curiae for 
the American Bar Association on the novel issue of the propriety of 
subpoenaing criminal defense attorneys.
  In between his many responsibilities, Mr. Diamond has found the time 
to serve on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's Lawyers' Fund for Client 
Security Board. This board helps clients recover some or all losses of 
money and/or property stolen from them by their attorneys.
  Mr. Diamond has also received numerous awards and accolades. I am 
particularly impressed that Mr. Diamond is listed in Who's Who in the 
World, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law and Who's Who 
Among Emerging Leaders. He also received the ABA's highest rating of 
unanimously well qualified.
  I applaud President Bush for his nomination of Mr. Diamond and am 
confident that he will serve on the bench with compassion, integrity 
and fairness.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today the Senate considers the nomination 
of Paul Diamond to be a United States District Judge for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. Mr. Diamond has a unanimous rating of ``well-
qualified'' from the American Bar Association and significant 
experience serving as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia 
for 6 years and serving as a litigator in private practice for over 20 
years. He is supported by the senior Senator from Pennsylvania, for 
whom I have great respect.
  With the three confirmation votes today, the Senate will now have 
confirmed 17 judicial nominees this year alone. Seventeen is the total 
number of judges who were confirmed under Republican leadership in all 
of 1996. However, in 1996, the first confirmation did not even occur 
until July.
  With these three confirmations today, the Senate will have confirmed 
a total of 86 judges this Congress and 186 of this President's judicial 
nominees overall. With 86 judicial confirmations in just a little more 
than 17 months, the Senate has confirmed more Federal judges than were 
confirmed during the 2 full years of 1995 and 1996, when Republicans 
first controlled the Senate and President Clinton was in the White 
House. It also exceeds the 2-year total at the end of the Clinton 
administration, when Republicans held the Senate. With 186 total 
confirmations for President Bush, the Senate has confirmed more 
lifetime appointees for this President than were allowed to be 
confirmed in President Clinton's entire second term, the most recent 4-
year presidential term. We have already surpassed the number of 
judicial appointments won by President Reagan in his entire first term 
in office.
  A look at the Federal judiciary in Pennsylvania demonstrates yet 
again that President Bush's nominees have been treated far better than 
President Clinton's and shows dramatically how Democrats have worked in 
a bipartisan way to fill vacancies, despite the fact that Republicans 
blocked more than 60 of President Clinton's judicial nominees. With 
this confirmation, 19 of President Bush's nominees to the Federal 
courts in Pennsylvania will have been confirmed, more than for any 
other State.
  With this confirmation, President Bush's nominees will make up 19 of 
the 43 active Federal circuit and district court judges for 
Pennsylvania. That is more than 40 percent of the Pennsylvania Federal 
bench. On the Pennsylvania district courts alone, President Bush's 
influence is even stronger, as his nominees will now hold 16 of the 35 
active seats. In other words, nearly half of the district court seats 
in Pennsylvania will be held by President Bush's appointees. Republican 
appointees will outnumber Democratic appointees by nearly two to one.
  This is in sharp contrast to the way vacancies in Pennsylvania were 
left unfilled during Republican control of the Senate when President 
Clinton was in the White House.
  Republicans denied votes to ten judicial nominees, nine district and 
one circuit court nominees of President Clinton in Pennsylvania alone. 
Despite the efforts and diligence of the senior Senator from 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Specter, to secure the confirmation of all of the 
judicial nominees from every part of his home State there were 10 
nominees by President Clinton to Pennsylvania vacancies who never got a 
vote. Despite records that showed these to be well-qualified nominees, 
many of their nominations sat pending before the Senate for more than a 
year without being considered. Such obstruction provided President Bush 
with a significant opportunity to shape the bench according to his 
partisan and ideological goals.
  New articles in Pennsylvania have highlighted the way that President 
Bush has been able to reshape the Federal bench in Pennsylvania. For 
example, The Philadelphia Inquirer, observed that the significant 
number of vacancies on the Pennsylvania courts ``present Republicans 
with an opportunity to shape the judicial makeup of the court for years 
to come.''
  I would note that the Republican leadership has decided to depart 
from the order of the executive calendar to confirm Mr. Diamond today 
rather than Juan Ramon Sanchez, a well-qualified Hispanic nominee to 
the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District in Pennsylvania. That 
is their choice. I do not want to see the Democrats blamed for any 
delay in confirmation of Mr. Sanchez. I support that nomination and 
believe it will be supported by all Democratic Senators.
  I congratulate Mr. Diamond and his family today on his confirmation.
  I yield back my time.
  I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The question is, Will the Senate advise and consent to the nomination 
of Paul S. Diamond, of Pennsylvania, to be United States District Judge 
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania?
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I announce that the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Lugar) 
is necessarily absent.
  Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from North Carolina (Mr. 
Edwards) and the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry) are necessarily 
absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 97, nays 0, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 123 Ex.]

                                YEAS--97

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bingaman
     Bond
     Boxer
     Breaux
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Byrd
     Campbell
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Corzine
     Craig
     Crapo
     Daschle
     Dayton
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Domenici
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feingold
     Feinstein
     Fitzgerald
     Frist
     Graham (FL)
     Graham (SC)
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hollings
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lott
     McCain
     McConnell
     Mikulski
     Miller
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Nickles
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thomas
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                             NOT VOTING--3

     Edwards
     Kerry
     Lugar
  The nomination was confirmed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The President will be immediately notified of 
the Senate's action.

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